Joseph Coniglio

Add Robert Colletti to the membership list of the Douglas Forrester Club: Republicans who were headed to the Senate, but were defeated when Democrats changed their candidates.  Colletti, a former Elmwood Park Councilman, looked like he would win the 38th district State Senate race last summer after incumbent Joseph Coniglio became the target of a federal criminal probe -- a Democratic poll confirmed exactly that.  But now, against Assemblyman Robert Gordon, Colletti doesn't have a chance.

Next time someone criticizes New York-based network news coverage of local politics in New Jersey, consider this: WNBC-TV’s Brian Thompson covered the mass defection of Lyndhurst Republicans, but The Record – Bergen County’s daily newspaper -- did not.   This cycle, The Record’s columnists, specifically Charles Stile, Alfred Doblin and Herb Jackson, have been at the top of their game, and clearly dominating political coverage.  Stile broke the story that Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli traveled to Italy on a vacation with State Senator Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal probe.  It took The Record a week to run an editorial on Molinelli, and they never actually covered it as a news story.

Missing from Friday’s Ledger and Record stories about the failure by the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards to reopen an investigation into Sen. Joseph Coniglio was any mention of earlier promises by leadership to independently review the Legislative Code of Ethics.

BTW, recommendations were promised by June . . . that’s June 2007.

Hey, it’s tough to meet deadlines when constantly being distracted by subpoenas and agents rifling through your files.

The examination has seemingly disappeared into a news Black Hole.

It's put up or shut up time for Bergen County Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz.

Insiders say that Ortiz was elected County Chairman last summer to replace Guy Talarico mainly because of his self proclaimed skills as a uber fundraiser. He boasted of raising funds for state and national candidates and of being a member of the New Jersey State Republican Committee Chairman's Club (although it turned out he hadn't paid his $1,000 initiation fee). The party faithful took Ortiz seriously, and candidates for county and local office eagerly awaited the flow of campaign funds for the first time in years. (Kathleen Donovan's primary campaign for county executive in 2006 raised more money than the county organization raised in two full years).

A legislative ethics panel yesterday declined to reopen an ethics complaint against State Senator Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal corruption probe.  "Senator Coniglio has earned a reputation for honesty and integrity throughout nearly four decades of public service. He has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing and he is determined to clear his name," said Coniglio spokesman Keith Furlong.

Does John Molinelli, in the news this week for vacationing in Italy with State Senator Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal investigation, and with Bergen County Democratic Organization counsel Dennis Oury, make the list of the five worst county prosecutors in recent years?

Here are four who clearly make our list:

• Two weeks before James Florio was to take office as Governor in 1990, Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell held a news conference to tell a rather spectacular story: he said two gunmen had ambushed him in what became a high speed New Year’s Day gun battle. Asbell said he shot one of the gunmen with a sawed-off shotgun he carried in his car. He said machine gun fire shattered his car windows. But investigators for the State Police found that Asbell had staged the entire event as a last-ditch effort to keep his job under a Democratic Governor. He resigned and entered a mental health facility for treatment.

Someone threw Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli under the bus with the disclosure that he went on a vacation in Italy with Democratic State Senator Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal probe.  Molinelli, who served as Treasurer of the Bergen County Democratic Organization before his appointment as Prosecutor, is on holdover status since State Senator Loretta Weinberg has not yet signed off on his reappointment.  Published reports of his vacation with Coniglio, who dropped his bid for re-election after the story of the U.S. Attorney’s investigation of his plumbing contract with a local hospital was leaked to the media, could jeopardize Molinelli’s chances to continue as Prosecutor. 

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli went on vacation to Italy with State Sen. Joe Coniglio, the target of a federal probeToday’s revelation that Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli traveled to Italy with State Sen. Joe Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal probe, only makes State Sen. Loretta Weinberg feel more uneasy about the prosecutors reappointment.

The Bergen Record’s Charles Stile revealed today that Coniglio and Molinelli were among nine people who traveled to Italy last month. Molinelli told Stile that Coniglio was added to the trip at the last minute, and that he reconsidered going, but decided to anyway.

Today's Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine Award for Political Tone Deafness goes to Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, who decided to go on a vacation to Italy with a small group of friends that included State Senator Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal probe.  Molinelli told The Record's Charles Stile that he saw no conflict because his office has no role in the U.S. Attorney's investigation of the two-term Democratic legislator.